The Girl at the Bar
by Imwaiting4myAliceandEdward
Summary: It's an average night for Edward Cullen, until this brunette falls into his life. A connection of trust is instant between the two of them, but what'll become of their relationship? Will anything be able to throw them off even if it is friends or family?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello! Ok, so this is my first story. I am currently working on two, this one is a publish as I go, so sorry if there are gaps between the chapters. I have finished the 2nd chapter, but am not going to post it till I finish the 3rd and so forth so that I will be able to change details if I need to for the story to flow. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review! I want to know if you like the straight forwardness of this story or if you want more fluff, etc. As of right now, I plan on having this entire stroy from Edward's POV, and there might be citris down the road! Happy reading! :D**

The Girl in the mask

Chapter 1

EPOV

I was at the bar with Jazz; Emmett had left earlier with Rose, his girlfriend. Man does she have him wrapped around her little finger; but they are good together.

The club we were at, Club Denali, has a type of theme night once a week. Tonight's was 'bright, tight, & shoot tequila right'. They always came up with crazy sayings for them, and you attempt to dress accordingly. The themes would sometimes repeat if they had a good turnout. I have a feeling tonight's may be one of those.

In the time that I was zoning out at the bar, Jazz got up and was dancing with some chicks. We had been here for a few hours and I had only done tequila, just to get a buzz, and let it die down before taking another, so I could still drive if need be. I tuned back to the bar to down my next shot, what is this my third? Fourth? As the saying goes 1 tequila, 2 tequila, 3 tequila more, after that who gives a fuck after 4? Right as I was taking my whatever number shot, someone falls onto me making me drop my shot. WTF! Before I could get angry though, I turn around and there is this beautiful brunette that has fallen into my lap. She had this Gold mask on with this hot teal-blue outfit. I looked down and she was wearing these sexy shoes, which mixed with alcohol is probably what caused her to trip. Then she finally looked up at me and I could see her deep brown eyes through her mask. If anyone looked into them for any length of time, there is no doubt in my mind you could see clear to her soul.

"Hi, you ok?"

She didn't answer me, and had this confusing look on her face and her eyes were flashing back and forth between my own, as if looking for something. All the sudden this strawberry-blonde stumbles over,

"Oh my God Bella, are you ok? You always are tripping over thin air." She seemed to be demeaning this girl in my arms instead of just joking with her, and I didn't like it. Then the strawberry-blonde notices me, " oh Bella, who's this fine sexy god you found?" She addressed me with I'm guessing she thought was a sexy smile and voice, but really sounded just nasally, and not very attractive.

Bella blushed and started to get up and I repeated my question to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine; I'm so sorry. One of my friends bought me these ridiculously high death traps, that she called shoes, and Tanya convinced me to wear them. I don't know why I listened to her though because me and high heels generally don't mix due to my klutziness." She bit her lip to cease from continuing to ramble, but it didn't matter; I could listen to her voice all day and never tire of it.

"It's fine don't worry about it. Bella is a beautiful name to have." She looked down and blushed, making her even more beautiful if possible.

All of the sudden the girl Tanya buts between us leaning over the bar to grab a bottle of tequila and 2 shot glasses, then calls to the bartender to get us some limes. She smirked when she noticed my quizzical look on my face, "Oh, I'm Tanya _Denali_ as in the daughter of the owner of here, Club _Denali_." She said with an attitude of being superior to everyone else here and as if this was supposed to thoroughly impress me.

"Ah." Was my genius response.

"So you want a shot?" Tanya asked.

"Sure, but only one, I want to go dance after." I replied while looking directly at the brunette goddess behind her.

Tanya looked between the two of us, "Well, I love to dance, Bella here never dances though." She said as if trying to get Bella out of the equation, as if that would happen.

"Bella would you like to dance with me?" I felt so high school, but I truly did want her to dance with me.

She looked at only me when she replied, "I would love to." In a very small voice. I quickly downed my shot and sucked a lime. She watched me suck mine down before quickly doing the same.

I then grabbed her hand and took her to the dance floor while Tanya was huffing in anger behind us, still at the bar.

"I really am not very good at dancing" she said with a worried, yet apologetic smile, as if being a bad dancer was the worst fault a person could have.

All the sudden there was this moment of us just standing there looking into each other's eyes, and this feeling of familiarity and longing was thick between us, something of which I did not understand.

"Do you want to get out of here?" I asked, I felt like I should take her somewhere, not to go have sex, but to just go somewhere.

She hesitated a moment before slowly nodding her head. I grabbed her hand and went towards Jasper, whispering in his ear that I was leaving, he looked between the two of us shocked, then acknowledged that he was going to stay before we made our way out of the club.

I finally got her to my car with this electricity moving between our hands still. I opened her door, when she finally let go of my hand and stopped.

"Um.." was all she said, and then looked down.

I walked up to her, and lifted her chin so I could look into her eyes, "do you trust me?" I asked searching her eyes as she answered,

"I don't understand why, but… yes…yes I do." She nodded her head as if she was confirming this fact to herself, while taking off her mask and putting it in her bag.

"Then I want to show you something."

"Ok" was all she said before finally sitting in the passenger seat, with me closing the door. I walked around and started the car.

I know myself and that I would never hurt a girl, and know that a girl should not get into a car with a stranger who she knows nothing about but his name, but this thing that we have going on between us is not normal. It's like instant connection of trust, and desire. A desire to know her.

It was a very quiet car ride with me driving and occasionally glancing at her, and she would occasionally glance back at me. Luckily the place where I wanted to take her was only about 15 minutes away, but it was up in the mountains a ways. I pulled up into the view point which overlooked Seattle and turned off the car. She looked at me quizzically as I got out of the car and opened her door.

"What are we doing?" She started to sound a little worried and I don't blame her, I mean she is all alone with me in the mountains with no one around. Not to mention that where I really want to take her necessitates a walk through the dark woods… maybe this was a bad idea…

"Well…" I paused there debating whether or not to actually show her the meadow that was up the path or not.

"Yes?" she asked again, with not so much worry this time.

"I'm sorry, I was just running through my head how scary this scenario would be if you were with someone else…" she giggled so of course I asked the obvious question, "What?"

"Well you looked like you were debating something, and my guesses were it was either about whether or not you really are going to kill me, or if you want to actually continue to show what you wanted me to see. I've noticed that you haven't pulled a gun on me yet to shoot me, so I'm guessing, rather hoping, it's the second." This got me chuckling too, at how she made the slightly awkward moment relaxed again.

"Just out of curiosity, what exactly is it that you want to show me? I mean this view here is beautiful in itself."

"Well, it's a meadow that overlooks this view, but it's off over there," I said while pointing in the direction in the woods. "So I wasn't sure if you would go with me into the woods."

"Oh" she said while looking down at her shoes. Damn, I forgot about her shoes, there is no way she can go through the woods in those.

"Oh, well I guess my spontaneity was not a good idea." Now it was my turn to blush a little. Why the hell am I acting so impulsive!? I mean I already noticed her shoes, and yet my first idea was to take her to the meadow?! Come on brain WORK!

"Wait.." she opened her bag and pulled out a very worn pair of chucks. Good thing her purse was so big. "I was planning originally on heading back to Tanya's, so I packed some shoes and stuff."

Wow what are the odds that she had those in her bag!? Thank God luck is on my side, beings my brain wasn't working.

She put the Chucks on before returning the 'death traps' as she calls them back into her bag.

"Ready." She stated with a little grin.

Luckily I knew this trail to the meadow like the back of my hand, so even in the dark, I could easily navigate it; Bella however was a different story, she was not as graceful, and managed to trip knocking me on my back, and her on top of me facing me. She looked up at me with an extremely embarrassed and concerned face. "Are you ok?"

I laughed once before seriously replying, "Never been better." She looked into my eyes, then her eyes turned to my lips and back up to my eyes. I could simply move my head a little to kiss her beautiful lips, but I didn't want to scare her. Yet I decided if she kept looking at my lips like that, I would soon devour her lips with mine, so I helped her up.

"It's not that much farther from here, just through those trees over there."

She shook her head to clear it before we continued on. When we finally made it to the opening, she stopped dead in her tracks.

She had the most beautiful look on her face; a look of awe. "W-W-Wow… this is… this is just amazing!"

I couldn't help but laugh at the look on her face. What she didn't know was that my mother had bought me this land when she found out I visited it so often. I had built a bench swing overlooking the city. I lead her over to it and sat down. She looked over at me and I could see that she had a million questions to ask me.

"How did you find this place?"

Well that was an easy one to answer, "My parent's house is just up the road from here, and one day when I got angry about something, I don't remember what, I started running through the woods. I grew up here, so I knew my way around pretty well, but I started going off of trails, and found this place. I started coming here every time that I would get mad, or sad, or just needed to relax. Eventually my mom asked me where I went and when I showed this to her, she bought this land here for a birthday present. I built this bench. There's this little run down house that my mother and I renovated here too."

"Wow, so you grew up here?"

"Yep. What about you where did you grow up?"

"Hmm… not with this view. I grew up in Forks with my dad; it's about two hours away from here. But now I'm going to College here in Seattle**.**"

"Oh, I know where that is, one of my best friends grew up there. I just graduated early from University of Washington, and am working with my father at the hospital here in Seattle."

"You're a doctor?" she asked shocked.

"Yeah."

"Wow." She had on a light jacket, but was starting to rub her arms up and down to warm up. I took off my jacket and handed it to her. "Wait right here." I said and ran over to where the little house was to grab some blankets that I had stashed there. When me and Jasper were young, we would sometimes stay down here.

I went back over to the bench and laid a blanket over our laps. She looked at me then snuggled into my chest. I put my arm around her, to keep Bella close. I couldn't understand what was happening. After just a few hours of knowing this beautiful girl, she was curled next me, looking at the view before us as if we had known each other forever. We had barely spoken to each other, yet there was this contentment and trust between us that was unexplainable. After a while, I felt her breathing slow, and knew that she was asleep. I wasn't sure what to do now, I didn't want to wake this sleeping beauty, but I also didn't want her to leave.

The little house here had a bed and a couch, so I picked her up and carried her over to the house to place her on the bed. I turned off the lights and took off her shoes, as well as mine before I went to put her on the bed, when she grabbed my shirt. "Edward… please don't go," she mumbled. I was pretty sure she was still asleep, but had placed a death grip on my shirt, so I laid down next to her and through the covers over us. She still kept that death grip on my shirt though. I softly chuckled and not knowing what else to do, fell asleep with Bella curled next to me.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hello! So I decided to post this a little earlier than I originally planned, because I was encouraged by all of the story alerts people have placed on this story. Thank you so much! Also, please reveiw, I will not be offended and truly do want to know what you like or dislike about my story. After all I am writing it for you. I am almost done with chapter 3 and will soon start chapter 4. I am crazy busy with school, so I can't guarantee a timeframe of when the next few chapters will be posted. I hope you like this! :D**

Chapter 2

I woke up with the smell of freesia's and vanilla which was Bella who was still on my chest, still having a grip on my shirt, but not like before. Man her hand is going to be sore. Just then she breathed a sigh of contentment before opening her eyes. Her small smile remained on her face as she opened her beautiful brown eyes to which she looked at mine. Then her smile disappeared and shock replaced it. She looked down at her hands and quickly released my shirt. "Owww." She mumbled as she started flexing her fingers. I couldn't help but laugh. She blushed a deep red before looking around the room and returning her gaze to mine.

I smiled, "Good morning."

"Where are we?" her voice was still quiet from just waking up.

"We're in the little house that I told you about last night." Recognition lit up her face.

She paused for a few more moments before she asked, "What happened last night, the last thing I remember was sitting on the bench…"

"I hope you don't mind, but you looked so peaceful sleeping that I just brought you up here. I was planning on sleeping on the couch, but you had a death grip on my shirt and asked me not to go."

"That explains why my hands are so sore." She said with a little grimace.

I couldn't help but softly laugh at the way her cute little nose scrunched up. "Hey do want some coffee?" I wanted to prolong my time with her for as long as possible.

Her face immediately lit up. "Coffee sounds amazing right now."

"Ok, well, my parents have this amazing coffee right up the road? Is it ok with you if we go there?"

"Um… yeah?" She nervously replied as if a question. She then looked down at her outfit.

"You still look beautiful. They won't mind what you're wearing, I promise." She blushed and gave a little smile and nod. "Thank you, but actually is there somewhere I could change? I have a change of clothes in my bag."

"Oh yeah, there's a bathroom over there, but don't use anything, because the plumbing hasn't been done yet." She nodded and left to go change. I fixed the bed before we left. When she came out we made our way back down to the car, Bella tripping less now that it was daylight. I again opened her door for her and she said a quick thank you before I ran around and got in the car to drive the short distance to my parents house. When we drove through the gates to my house, Bella's mouth dropped open with an audible gasp. She quickly looked over to me with shock, "This is where you grew up!?"

"Yep." I knew our house was nice, but I wasn't quite sure how to respond to Bella's reaction to seeing our house yet. The house, rather mansion, was three stories, with a small movie theatre, library, game room, and other various rooms and bedrooms. My mother loved to design homes and other various buildings, so the house was always changing.

Bella was still trying to get over the shock of seeing the house when I went to open her door for her.

I walked through the front door with Bella to see my mother walking out of her office towards the kitchen with a coffee cup.

"Hey mom, I hope you haven't drunken all the coffee yet." She swirled around and gasped with her hand to her chest.

"Oh honey you scared me! I didn't know you were stopping by this morning." She said coming over to give me a hug and kiss on the cheek, "oh, and who's this beautiful young lady?" She said with a kind smile to Bella.

"This is Bella, Bella this is my mother Esme." My mother immediately hugged Bella, catching her off guard, "oh it is so nice to meet you dear. Are you guys hungry? I'll make brunch if you are."

Bella smiled, "Thank you so much that sounds lovely Mrs…Um.?" She looked at me with a confused look on her face and I realized that she didn't even know my last name yet, nor I her's. But before I could tell her or she could ask, my mother interjected, "Oh sweetie, please call me Esme ok?" Bella blushed before replying a simple, "OK, Esme. Thank you."

We followed my mother into the kitchen. I guided Bella over to a seat at the kitchen counter, while I went to go fetch us coffee. I didn't know how Bella liked her coffee so I brought crème and sugar over to her. "Here you go."

"Oh thank you so much." She said as she smiled over at me.

"So Bella how did the two of you meet?" My mother asked as she cooked.

"Oh, well, um, we met at a club."

"Which club? Was it here in Seattle?"

"Yes, it was at Club Denali."

"OH! I am really good friends with Carmen Denali, the owner. Such a sweet family." Esme smiled as if looking back on a memory.

"Oh, so you know Tanya then. I actually met her in high school when I moved here, and we became friends."

"Oh, I've only seen very little of Tanya, I know her other daughters Kate, and Irina better. Carmen recommended me to help them revamp some of the rooms in their houses."

My mother finished cooking and served us up our food with enough to feed ten, rather than just the two of us, but this was typical of my mother. We started eating when the door bell rang. My mother left us to answer it, and this kind, high pitched voice rang through the air.

"Alice?" Bella stated looking at me confused. We stopped eating to listen to the conversation at the door.

"_Well sweetie, I just made breakfast, why don't you grab something before we start working?"_

"_Oh that sounds terrific Esme, thank you! I have so many ideas I was hoping you could try to incorporate into my studio that…" _The pixie looking girl stopped dead in her tracks when she walked into the kitchen.

"Bella?! What are you doing here?" She quickly ran, or rather glided over to Bella to embrace her in a hug. "I stopped by your place this morning to drop off that new outfit I made you, and you weren't home. I tried calling your cell and you didn't answer, I was starting to get worried about you."

Bella blushed a little before replying, "Sorry Alice, I forgot you were going to stop by, and I think my cell died so I didn't get your call."

"And where were you Bella?" then the girl named Alice started to look between the two of us and a smug grin erupted on her face. "OH, never mind" She said while winking at me.

"Oh Alice it wasn't like that, I mean… um… well..." Bella said quickly trying to find words to explain.

Alice sighed and rolled her eyes, "Ah huh Bella; I know you slept with him." Bella started stuttering for words, and I just burst out laughing at the way the two of them interacted, because I mean technically we did sleep together, but just slept, and I could tell the spiky, black haired girl realized this. I reached my hand out to the pixie, "Hi I'm Edward."

"Alice" She said with a smile and a bob of her head. "Thanks for sleeping with my friend here, she needed a good time."

I just laughed at her, because I knew she was just messing with Bella, "Oh anytime, it was my pleasure, believe me," I said with a smile and wink at Bella, who just stood there gawking at the two of us. Me and the pixie just burst out laughing followed my mother who was watching the scene before her. I noticed Bella was still bright red and looking at the floor; I stopped laughing and walked over to her lifting her chin so I could see her eyes, "You know we were just messing with you." I moved my hand up her cheek and she leaned into it.

"I know, but I can't help but feel embarrassed, or blush." She said with a small smile, which began to reach her eyes. All the sudden we heard two, "AWW!!!" Followed by my mother saying, "how cute." Bella blushed an even darker red, and I blushed a tad too with a smile. The phone rang, and my mother left to go answer it.

"So Edward, when exactly did you meet Bella, because no offence, but she hasn't really mentioned you." I could tell Alice was dying for her answer.

I scratched my head and looked down on Bella with a small smile, who I had put my arm around; it just felt natural, and she didn't seem to mind, "Well, I'm not offended because she couldn't of told you about me because she hasn't left since she met me."

I lifted my gaze back over to see a very confused Alice who was trying to make sense of my words. "What do you mean, I just saw her yesterday at lunch!?" Then it clicked, "Oh My GOD!!! You two just met yesterday, and you are already acting like this!!!!" she exclaimed while her face lit up like Christmas. Immediately Alice grabbed Bella's arm and dragged her out of the room with a quick, "We'll be right back!" Bella looked back like she was fearful of whatever Alice was going to do or say to her. I didn't know what to do, so I just sat to finish my breakfast and wait for Alice to let Bella return.

After a few minutes, I saw a very bashful looking Bella, and a very smug looking Alice return.

"Alright, well I'm going to go find your mom so we can go over my work, you two have fun today." And with that Alice turned and left.

Bella looked up at me and I couldn't help but smile. "Why don't you finish up breakfast and then I'll go drop you off to get your car?"

Bella nodded her head, "that sounds good." Although I knew that I would have to in fact bring her to her car so she could go home, I really did not want Bella to leave my side. I sat there leaning on the counter with my head on my hand watching her while she finished her meal. She glanced at me staring at her, then picked up a grape and through it right between my eyes. I looked at her with shock before picking the grape up and eating it and smirking at her. I noticed that she was no longer eating or laughing, but biting her bottom lip when she watched me eat the grape, then looked back up from my lips to my eyes. I saw that there was lust building up in her eyes, and her biting her lip was sexy as hell.

I think she saw the lust building in my eyes as well, because she blinked a few times, cleared her thought, and went back to eating. But she was more like playing with her food. I could tell she was deep in thought; about what I couldn't tell. Eventually she pushed her plate away, claiming she couldn't eat another bite.

On our way out we said our goodbyes to my mother and Alice who gave me and a hug, while whispering in my ear, "you hurt her you die." Somehow I don't think Alice's threats should be taken lightly. I also didn't know what to make of her threat, I mean I know that there is this crazy… bond that is there between Bella and I, but I don't know where that puts us relationship wise. I've known the girl for a mere few hours, and already I was dreading the time we would have to spend apart.

After I opened her door and got in the car, I looked over at her. "I know that we've only known each other a few hours really, but I was wondering, would you like to go out to dinner with me tonight? Or tomorrow if tonight is too soon?" I was anxiously waiting for her reply, I mean does she even feel what I feel? I mean I know she says she trusts me, and that I see these glimpses in her eyes which mirror my emotions, but does she want to start an actual relationship with me? I mean I'll take anything, friendship, love, benefits (although I think I would die if I could only have her physically, without emotional attachment…). Just please say yes.

"I'm sorry, I already made plans tonight with a friend, but tomorrow night would be fine." She truly did look bummed that she had prior arrangements for tonight. Now I just had to plan something amazing for her for tomorrow night. "Tomorrow is perfect. How about 5?"

"5 it is." She said with a happy smile.

I started up the car and we were on our way. It was only about 20 minutes to her car. After about ten minutes in a comfortable silence, I put a CD that I had put together in, and turned up the volume. The first song on it was a song I wrote.

"This is a beautiful song, who composed this? I don't recognize it."

I was a little nervous to tell her that I composed this, so did so quickly. "Me."

She looked at me with amazement, "you composed this?" I nodded. "You're very good. I would love to see you play sometime."

"And I would love to play for you." I was very appreciative that she liked the song.

We were almost there when Clare de Lune came on.

She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, "you know Clare de Lune is one of my favorite songs. My mom used to play it when she did stuff around the house. It reminds me of her."

I parked in the club's parking lot and she opened her door before I could get to it. Damn, I had been doing so good about getting her door. I put my arm around her as we walked over to this ancient, and I mean _ancient_ burnt orange, maybe at one time red, Chevy truck. I looked at the thing in horror when I realized it was her car.

"Bella, you drive _this_?" Her eyes quickly flashed to mine.

"What's wrong with my truck?"

"Bella it looks like it's ready to fall apart! I mean is it even safe to drive?" Her eyes flickered with a fraction of anger.

"YES it's safe to drive! Don't diss my truck! My dad bought it for me when I moved to Forks with him." She looked at the truck with fondness. You've got to be kidding me, she actually wants to drive this?!

"Bella I am letting you know now, I am buying you a new car."

She looked to me again with complete and udder shock, "you would buy me a new car?"

"Bella I will buy you anything, and everything you want, but starting with a car. What kind would you like, we'll go pick it up now if it means you don't have to drive this accident on wheels." I told her with all seriousness.

Seeing that I was serious she started shaking her head back and forth, looking at me as if I had grown a third arm, "Edward, I am not having you buy me a car! I mean thank you for the offer, but I could never accept something like that. Ever. I'm not even worth it."

Now it was my turn for a speck of anger, "You Bella are worth so much more than some silly car. Don't ever doubt that." I said while wishing her to see herself more clearly. So far I had found that this girl was modest, gentle, sweet, trusting, and beautiful, and this was after one day, and I couldn't wait to find what else this girl was.

"Well thank you, but you still aren't buying me a car." She said as she turned around and opened her truck door. She turned back around, all anger and annoyance gone, "Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow at 5."

The thought of having to wait that long to see her again was a downer, but I quickly put that thought to the side and embraced the fact that I get to see her tomorrow at all. "Tomorrow at 5, but where should I pick you up?"

"Oh, let me write it down." She grabbed a pen and paper from her truck and wrote down her address. "Here," she said while handing me it. I couldn't program my number into her phone because it was dead, but I let her program her numbers into my phone.

Now came the part I was dreading, the parting of ways, even though it was temporary, it sucked! I wanted to leave an impression, so I picked up her hand leaned down and kissed it, "Goodbye Bella, I will be there promptly at 5." I said while grinning. She softly laughed, "Well I will be waiting 'til then." She hopped into her truck, and my grin turned to a scowl as I heard the awful roar of her beastly 'truck' come to life. She noticed my scowl and laughed as she backed out and I watched her drive away.

There were many things I didn't understand about Bella and what was going on between us, but some things I did know. Bella was quickly becoming the sun in my life, the oxygen of my lungs, and my reason for living. Of these I was certain.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: This is the updated version of Chapter 3. There were only slight changes made, but they were necessary for the flow of the story later on. I have finished chapter 4, and plan on uploading it sometime this week/ weekend. It is the longest chapter, but I am guessing that chapter 5 will not be that exciting. Thank you for reading! And remember, PLEASE REVIEW!

Chapter 3

After I watched her drive away I started walking back over to my car, when my phone started ringing. I pulled it out of my pocket and saw that Jasper was calling me.

"Hey Jazz"

_"Hey man! So, me and Emmett were at the mall, and were wondering if you wanted to meet up with us for some drinks?"_

"Yeah, drinks sound fine, where?" I knew that Jasper had drunken way more than me last night, and yet he sounds absolutely fine and wants to go meet up for drinks again. Man that guy is tuff.

"_Um how about Volturi's? Emmett here is trying to talk me into Club Denali again, but I want food, food, not to mention we go there all the time, so I say Volturi's. It's all up to you, so what is it?"_ It is true we did go to Club Denali's a lot, I mean I'm even standing in the parking lot, but a burger from Volturi's sounds awesome, not to mention you can actually have a conversation there without having to scream over music.

"I vote Volturi's, their Supreme Aro Burger sounds great right now."

_"Oh thank you. Alright, so we're going to head over there now, you want us to come swing by to pick you up? Your apartment is on the way there."_

"Well, I'm actually not at home Jazz, I'm back at the club. So I'll just meet you there."

_"Why are you at the club?"_

"Well, I dropped off a friend to get their car."

"_Okay? Oh, is it the girl from last night?" _Jasper sounded jealous, which was very unlike him. My side of the line stayed silent as I tried to figure out what he was jealous about. _"Anyways, so meet up in say half an hour?" _He said sounding back to normal.

"Yep, sounds good. See you in a few."

_"Yep, see you then man."_

With that I hung up and started driving over to Volturi's. I got there, parked, and walked into the restaurant. Once I walked in I noticed Emmett immediately waving his hands over his head like a lunatic to get my attention. Well Emmett, mission accomplished, lunatic noticed. I walked over to the table and gave each of my boys a 'manly hug' before sitting down to join them.

Of course Emmett was the first to initiate conversation, "Soooo, how are you doing today? Jasper here tells me you left with some chick! Is that true? I mean I haven't seen you leave with any girl by choice, like, ever." He said this with a slightly excited expression.

"Yeah, well…" I honestly didn't know what to say. I mean where do I start?

Luckily Jasper saw my struggle for words, "Ok, so let's start with her name."

I couldn't help the stupid smile that started to form on my face; thinking about her just had that affect on me. "Well her name is Bella, and she is incredible."

Jazz had a smile on his face now too, "Alright so what exactly happened after you left with her?"

"Well, I took her to the meadow." Jasper's face was filled with shock. I don't know why, but I never show it to other people. There are only about 5 people who even know I own it, or that it exists. And only 3 people besides myself have actually seen it. So the fact that I took a girl there that I met only moments before, was unlike me. I looked over to gage Emmett's reaction, because I hadn't even taken him there yet, and I knew he wanted to see where I and Jasper were talking about when we would tell stories of us hanging out there, or working on the small house with my mom during past summers. However Emmett's face was neither of shock, nor anger. It was as if he was far away in his mind, thinking deeply about something, but his face was one of slight pain, and sadness.

"Emmett, are you ok?"

Emmett still didn't move, he must have been very deep in thought. So I nudged his shoulder, "Emmett, hey are you ok?" He finally snapped out of his daze shaking his head, "Oh, yeah, I'm fine, just… thinking about some things."

I knew that look, and when he had that look, I assumed it was when he was thinking about his family. Me and Jazz met Em in college, so we never met his family. I asked him once about them, and he had the same reaction as now. Jasper and I never asked him again about them though, because honestly we didn't care if he came from a broken family, or what not, we only cared about him. But maybe not asking was doing more damage than good for him, maybe he needed to open up. I looked over to Jasper and with the knowing/ confused look he shared with me, I was guessing he was thinking the exact same thing. I figured it would be better to have Jazz decide what to do, because he was really good at reading people and knowing what to say or not say. He nodded to me, and turned back towards Emmett, ending our silent conversation.

Jasper started with a very comforting, cautious voice, "Emmett, you are like my brother; are my brother, and I've seen that look on your face before man. I want to help, but can't know if I even can without asking. So what were you thinking about?"

Before we could even see if Emmett would answer though, our waitress came up.

"Hello there, my name is Jane, and I'm you server for the evening. What can I get for you?"

Emmett immediately jumped in at the distraction, "I'll take a beer, and a Dismal Marcus Burger, with grilled onions, and a side of Felix Fries."

Jasper then ordered, "I'll have a Vodka Tonic with a Caius Chicken Club, with Gianna Caprice (sorry if spelled incorrectly!). "

Next it was my turn to order, "I'll have a Supreme Aro Burger, with Alec Onion Rings. Thanks"

"All right I will be right back with those." With that she walked away towards the kitchen to place our orders.

Immediately after our waitress Jane left, we turned our attention to Emmett, who was messing with his fork on the table. He looked up at both of us with a defeated sigh, "Shit, I know you guys won't drop this now, so I'm just gonna say it fast… I was thinking about my sister."

Me and Jazz looked at each other with shocked expressions, we didn't know Em had a sister.

"You have a sister?" Me and Jasper said in unison.

"Yeah, I have… rather had a sister. She hasn't spoken to me in years though. I think she keeps contact with my father, but ever since… well anyways, I haven't spoken to her in years." With that a server came by with Emmett's beer, who greedily started drinking it.

"So Em, when's the last time you saw her?"

"When she was about 15. I saw her once when she was 16, but she wasn't herself. It was like the shell of her. After that, I haven't heard from or seen her since." With that he took another swig of his beer.

I had one last question for him, "What made you think about her?" I mean, I mentioned the meadow, and bam Emmett thought of his sister?

"Listen, I'm sorry, but can we change the subject, I really don't feel like dredging through my shit-field of a past." Emmett said, clearly not wanting to think about his painful memories any longer.

Jasper cut in for him, returning the attention to me, "So you took that hot girl Bella, to the meadow huh? What happened after?" He said while wagging his eyebrows. It was usually Emmett who made the innuendoes and had suggestive material, but I think Jasper was trying to lighten the mood some more for Em.

"Well, we got there, and sat at the bench. She was leaning against me, and fell asleep, so I picked her up and took her to the little house." I couldn't help but smile as I thought of the prior night's events and this morning's.

"So there was no action?" Emmett was back to normal, sounding let down, (being carefree and well… being Em)

I overall ignored Em, because he knew me, and knew that just wasn't my style. "I was planning on sleeping on the couch, but she had a death grip on my shirt and asked me to stay, so I just slept next to her." I said with a shrug and that same smile plastered on my face.

Jasper narrowed his eyes then widened them as if realizing something, before he opened his mouth, "Holy Crap, you love her don't you?"

Honestly I wasn't sure at the moment. I had never been in love before, but I have never felt anything like this for anyone but Bella… Was it love? Maybe it was. "I… I… fuck, I think I might."

Emmett had to comment, "Well don't tell Mom or she's gonna start planning your wedding already! You know how badly she wants grandkids." Emmett and Jasper call my mom 'mom'. Jasper lived at our house a lot of the time growing up, to get away from his father, and Em just calls her mom because he doesn't want to 'feel left out.'

"Well I don't think she's gonna be like that because she didn't freak out or anything when she met Bella this morning. Actually mom was normal." They both looked a little taken aback.

"You already took her to see the parents? That was fast." Jasper said, while Emmett was gaping. "So when's the next time you're seeing her?"

"Well I pick her up tomorrow at 5. I'm thinking of taking her out on the yacht. That's a good date right?" I was looking for advice here. Honestly, I hadn't taken more than a handful of girls out on dates, not because there weren't opportunities, but rather because I just wanted to find someone who was relationship material.

Emmett and Jasper gave me odd looks before Em replied, "I know that you live a life of luxury, but don't you want to get to know her more first before you flaunt the dough? I mean… I just don't want you to go through another Emily." Ugh, he had to bring up her. "I'm just trying to help you out here, I don't want you to let someone use you for your money again.

Emily was my ex-girlfriend. She met me at this charity ball for my father, who also works at the hospital. She knew who I was and that I was well off. I thought our relationship was headed somewhere, and then one day she announced that the reason she was spending so much time with her soon-to-be-brother-in-law wasn't because she was planning her sister's wedding, rather because she was planning her wedding with him who was now her soon-to-be-husband. Come to find out she had been dating him before me, and just used me to experience some luxuries in life, like my yacht or my father's jet, vacation home's etc. Needless to say, she's another reason why I haven't dated in a while.

Jasper brought me from my inner memories, "Although Emmett has a point, I saw when she fell on you and when you talked, it's not like she sought you out and was trying to get anything from you. Now if it was that girl next to her that you took home, I would agree with him." I hadn't realized that Jasper was watching us up at the bar. "Just be careful, for your sake and hers." Jasper finished with a small smile.

Of course Emmett had to change the mood out of serious, "Yep just be careful, always use a condom for protection!" Jasper just rolled his eyes at him. "What it was funny! Common, you know it was funny."

The rest of the time there was spent on less serious discussions. We finished up and I paid my part before driving home to my apartment.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Wow, I am actually kindof impressed with myself! I somehow managed to write this entire chapter in one day! And here I thought I wouldn't be able to finish it for a week! So I hope you enjoy the date. I honestly don't know what to write for the next chapter... not a clue. I know what I want to write for the chapters following it, but I can't write those until I write chapter 5, and it is very frusterating! So I'm sticking to the June 5th timeline for my next chapter, and hope I can come up with something by then. Please remeber to review, and obviously everyone knows this, but SM owns the character's names and descriptions, I just use them in my context.**

Chapter 4

That night I slept like a rock; all I dreamt of was my next night with Bella. I planned on taking her out on my yacht to a cove that I knew well. I know Jasper advised me to take it slow, as Em said, 'not to flaunt the dough,' but I want to impress her, and I want to treat her to the luxuries of life.

I got up out of bed, ate a quick breakfast, and spent the day preparing my yacht. I had to make sure everything was prepared not only with the romance, but also with the sailing, because I just wanted it to be me and her on the boat tonight, and I usually had some other crew members there to help me. I have sailed many times solo before, but it just needs some prep and planning.

I called one of the crew members Leah in though, to help me set up lights around the decks, and bring the necessary groceries for me to cook Bella dinner. Leah went and set up the dinner table and brought the flowers I instructed her to buy.

"Wow Edward, she must be really important to do all this for her. I've never known you to put so much effort out to impress a girl." She said with a kind smile. Leah was one of my favorite staff members. She was kind, funny, and the perfect employee.

"Yes, she is very important to me. I can't explain it, there is just this connection between the two of us that is indescribable. We just met the other day, and already I'm falling for her."

"I'm glad you finally found someone. I can already tell she means much more to you than 'someone else' AN:_ever_ did." She said with a confident tone. Leah had been there through the experience of Emily. She was the one person who was brave enough to try to warn me that she was just using me. Of course I didn't listen to her, but she never rubbed it in my face, or said, "I told you so." She just comforted me and told me that Emily wasn't worth the pain, and that someone was out there for me. Even though Leah was a paid employee, she was my friend, and a person I could rely on.

We finished setting everything up, and I made sure there was nothing else that needed to be done. I got dressed before heading back up to the deck. "Think she'll like it?" I asked Leah while taking in the flowers and lights. The way we set up the lights was so you couldn't see them until you turned them on, but they would light up around the deck and seating couches.

"I know she will love it. So when do I get the pleasure to meet her?" Leah mostly worked as crew on my yacht, and my father's, but she also did other miscellaneous tasks for both me and my parent's because we appreciated her so much.

"I know that my mother is having a b-b-q sometime this weekend; are you going to be helping out?"

"I'm not sure, your mother didn't mention anything yesterday when I called her, but you know her, she usually just has me place the order for everything and bring it over, in order for me to be considered working, than hang out with you lot for the rest of the evening." She said with a small laugh.

"Well, I hope to bring her there, and then you'll be able to meet her." I looked down at my watch and realized that it was already 4 ,and it was about a 45 minute drive to her house. "I got to go. Thank you again Leah, and I hope to see you at the b-b-q! I'm going to be late if I don't leave now though."

"Bye Edward, and have fun tonight." She yelled at me as I sprinted down the dock towards my car.

In my haste to see Bella again, and be there promptly at 5, I ended up making the drive in 30 minutes. I couldn't think of anything to do, so I drove around the corner from where her address was, and parked, waiting anxiously in my car for the 30 minutes to pass. I sat there listening to music, and impatiently waited for the time to go by. After 26 minutes, I drove back around the corner and parked in front of her apartment building, and walked up to her door. I made sure that it was _exactly_ 5 o'clock when I knocked on her door.

When Bella opened the door she was wearing a long, storm grey shirt, with jeans, and light grey flats with a light grey trench coat in her hands.

"You look beautiful tonight Bella." When I said this she blushed and looked down.

"Thank you Edward." I took her hand and placed a soft kiss on it before leading her out towards my car.

"So where are we going tonight? I wasn't sure how to dress." She said as we walked outside.

"Well, I was hoping to keep it a surprise until we get there, and don't worry, you look magnificent." I grinned as I opened her door for her. I ran around and started the car.

"Can you at least give me a hint?" She said with a hopeful expression.

"Ok, just one hint; we aren't going to a restaurant." Her expression turned to thoughtful. This was going to make the 45 minute drive fly by.

After about 5 minutes of her thinking up possibilities, she spoke up. "Ok, I need another hint."

"I can't give you more hints, it is supposed to be a surprise!" I said with a playful smile. She however looked determined to figure this out when she muttered, "I hate surprises."

"Ok, how about this, you ask a question and I answer yes or no?" She instantly sat up straighter in her seat, "Perfect, first question, it's not at a restaurant so are you cooking?"

"Yes" I said, glad that she was playing along.

"Is it at the meadow?"

"No"

"Alright, is at your house?"

"No, and I live in an apartment."

"Hmm, good to know, so is it at your parent's house?"

"No, and that would be a weird first date, wouldn't you agree?"

"I was just checking," she said with a laugh. Then she turned thoughtful, "It doesn't feel like a first date to me. It just feels too comfortable."

"It does feel that way doesn't it?" She nodded her head, but I couldn't help but say, "Well I could always try to make it awkward and uncomfortable if you would like?" I teased with a hint of sarcasm. She just laughed and shook her head before joking, "Yes please!" So I stopped talking, as did she and a brief moment of awkward silence followed. We both looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Alright, so are you going to keep trying to guess where we are going?" I asked with a playful smile.

"I thought you didn't want me guessing?" She said with a smug smile.

"Well, it's fun listening to your questions."

"Ok, we're out of Seattle, so is it North towards, Port Angeles?"

"Yes."

"Are we going to a movie?"

"No, I'm cooking remember?"

"Yeah, I guess that was a stupid question… Are we going towards the beaches?"

"Yes."

"Are we going _to_ the beach?"

"Sort-of."

"Sort-of? What does that mean?"

By this time we were getting close to the docks, so I didn't answer her because I knew that in a few more minutes she would see where we were going.

As I pulled into my reserved parking spot, I ran around and opened her door once more. "We're at a marina… you own a boat?" She asked a little in awe of situation. I offered her my arm which she took, and led her down the docks to my yacht named _The Olympia_. She had a similar reaction as when she first saw my parent's house, "THIS is _your_ yacht?" She asked apparently in shock of my boat.

"Yes, here let me help you onboard." I said as I helped her step onto the platform and head up the stairs to the main level.

She was starting to get over her shock, "Wow first you take me to the land you own, now it's your yacht, what's next the private jet?" She said with a laugh as if she was unsure she should be joking or not. Little did she know that I in fact, own 50% of a private jet with my father. However I decided she didn't need to know that yet, so I ignored the statement completely.

"So there is this cove not far from here that I want to go to, does that sound good to you?"

"Yes, that sounds fine." I quickly untied us, and set sail. The cruise to the cove was only about 20 minutes. When we got there, I set anchor, and walked back to where Bella was looking over the railing. She smiled when she saw me. I took her hand and led her into the kitchen area.

"So dinner may take awhile so I'm going to start," I said as I ignited the burner and put some butter in a pan, and turned the oven on.

"Wow, there is so much; is there anything I can do to help?" She asked obviously eager to help.

I smiled at her excitement over cooking; just another thing we had in common. "Sure, you can shred the parmesan. About 1 ¼ cups."

"That I can do; so what are we making?" While eyeing all the ingredients spread across the counter she was shredding the cheese at.

"I hope you like fish, because I planned on cooking Lemon Grass Butter Sol, with parmesan risotto, and sautéed mixed vegetables." Her face lit up into a huge smile.

"That sounds perfect, my favorite fish is sol, and not many people eat it."

"I'm glad." We stood there in the kitchen for a while, in comfortable silence.

"I love cooking, it's something that I enjoy. I loved helping my mother in the kitchen growing up. If I wasn't a doctor, I would be a chef." She had a small smile on her beautiful face before she responded.

"Neither of my parents could cook. My father once tried to make spaghetti, and blew up our microwave from putting the sauce jar in it. My mother tried to cook all organic meals that she invented. Let's just say we ordered a lot of pizza when she tried that. Phil couldn't cook either. I was the only one who could cook. It was either I learn or we eat out every night." We laughed together at the poor cooks her parents tried to be. Then I began to wonder who Phil was. We were talking about parents, so maybe he was a step-father? That would explain why she moved back home to Forks with her father.

After finishing up cooking, and taste testing the risotto right out of the pan, we dished up our plates and headed out to the deck, where I placed the plates on the table, and pulled out her chair for her to sit down. In the time we were inside cooking, the sun had begun to set.

I couldn't have planned it any better. We sat eating our dinner, drinking wine, and conversing and getting to know each other better as we watched the sun set. By the time we were done eating, the sun had officially set. I grabbed our finished plates off the table.

"I'll be right back." I took the plates and tossed them in the sink, I would clean them tomorrow. I wanted to turn on the lights I had spent the day putting up, and turn on music. Tonight I wanted to dance with Bella.

I put my ipod on shuffle in the background, as I walked back out to an awestruck Bella, and asked her to dance.

"I can't dance remember?" She said with a small voice. I could tell she wanted to dance, just was unsure of herself.

"Don't worry, it's all in the leading," I said with a reassuring smile, as I walked up to her and grabbed her hand and placed my other around her waist.

We danced under the lights and stars. The music in the background was the only sound other than the waves hitting the shore in the cove. Clare de Lune started playing the background again. I noticed a tear fall down her cheek; I stopped dancing and she looked up at me with a perplexed expression. "What's wrong?" I asked as I wiped another tear away. From the look on her face, she hadn't realized she was crying.

"Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about my mother. Every time I hear this song, I think of her." She said with a sad smile.

I had remembered she said she had grown up in Forks with her dad, but she hadn't mentioned her mom other than the cooking stories, "Bella, what happened to your mother?" I said with a gentle voice. She opened her eyes and looked into mine before answering, "My parents got divorced when I was young, and I moved out from Forks with my Mom. We moved to Phoenix. When I was about 15, my mother, got remarried to Phil. He was really good for her, but he played baseball and was always traveling. My mom was always trying to make both of us happy, but ended up tiring herself out traveling so frequently between us, so I moved back to Forks with my Dad, Charley. About two years later when I graduated, yes at 17, she was with Phil…" Luckily she was still in my arms, because she was starting to let sobs break free.

"Bella, it's ok, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Please don't cry, I didn't mean to bring back sad memories, I don't want you to be sad." I said as I leaned over and turned the song off, with her still in my arms. I stroked my hand through her hair and her sobs lessened. She looked up at me and I wiped away her fallen tears. "I'm sorry."

"No I'm sorry, it wasn't your fault, it was mine. It was always my fault." She said as more tears started to trickled down her cheeks.

"What are you talking about?" What did she mean 'it was always my fault?'

"The reason they were traveling, was to come see me graduate early. If I would have just been normal and just graduated later, they never would have been in that car, and never would have crashed!" The tears were falling and more sobs broke free. I moved us over to the cushions, and pulled her over into my lap. She wrapped her arms around my neck and cried into my shoulder. I just rubbed her back, and soothed her. Eventually her cries stopped and she wiped her eyes. "Thank you."

"For what?" I mean what was she thanking me for?

"For listening. I've never told anyone that before… that it was my fault." She said with conviction.

"Bella, it wasn't your fault. Maybe it was just their time to go. I mean what if it wasn't coming to see you, they would have been traveling anyways right?" She nodded her head, "I guess so, but"

"But nothing Bella. Nothing you did or didn't do, killed them," she flinched when I said the word 'killed', "you had a proud mother and step-father simply traveling towards celebrating with you, instead of traveling towards work, or something else. They loved you Bella; they wouldn't want you to blame yourself for something you had no control over. They would have wanted you to keep going with life, as you are, and be happy."

She sniffled and reluctantly nodded her head. I hoped with all my heart that one day she would stop blaming herself for this; I also hoped that I somehow helped.

"Oh, I ruined your shirt, I'm sorry. I'll buy you another one." She said while looking at my tear-stained shoulder.

"Bella, it's just a shirt, don't worry about it." We sat there looking at the stars for a few more minutes. We had been together over six hours. "Do you want to start heading back?" She shook her head, "Can we stay here for a little longer?"

"Of course Bella, whatever you want." It wasn't long before she had fallen asleep besides me. I let her sleep, as I sailed us back to port. As we were pulling up to the dock, she woke up. "Thank you for tonight Edward, and I'm sorry I had to ruin it."

"You did not ruin anything. I was glad you shared something so personal with me." I stood there hugging her tightly. It was after 1 in the morning and I was getting tired. It was a 45 minute drive back home from here. "Are you opposed to sleeping here, or do you want me to drive you home?" If she wasn't comfortable sleeping here alone with me, I was not going to make her. "I don't mind sleeping here. It's too long a drive this late."

I led her to the aft, and showed her the master suite. She was too tired to fully see the room. "Wait right here, I'll go get you some clothes." She merely nodded her head in acknowledgment. I figured Leah was about the same size as her. I walked into the crew quarters and quickly found a pair of pj bottoms and tank top from Leah's drawers. I quickly went back to Bella to see her looking at some family photos I had sitting my shelves. "Here you go." She jumped slightly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. The bathroom is over there so you can change."

She grabbed the pjs and walked into the bathroom. I quickly grabbed some pj pants out of my drawer and put them on before she walked out. I went to the bathroom down the hall. When I came back she was already in bed looking at me as I walked in. "Do you mind if I sleep in here, or…" I asked unsure what she was comfortable with.

"No, I don't mind if you stay; after all we have slept together before." She said joking about the teasing that occurred with Alice the other day. I laughed and got into bed next to her before flipping of the light. I held her close to me, "Sleep well Bella." I could see her look up and smile at me in the darkness. And with that we both fell asleep into a peaceful slumber.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hey there! I know that I promised I would get it to you by the 5th and so I have, but I had been so busy I wrote it all today, and honestly haven't even reread it, which is very unlike me. I hope you like it and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review on what your likes/ dislikes are. It really helps! I was planning on having the next chapter be a part of the climax, but instead, I feel I need more time between the two of them first. I hope you enjoy, and that my rushed writing isn't too terrible. **

Chapter 5

The next morning, I woke up with a smile as I smelt freesias and vanilla again. This is something I could easily get used to. I opened my eyes to see two smiling brown eyes looking up at me.

"Morning,"

I wish I could wake up every morning to the sight of her eyes. "Morning. How long have you been awake?"

"Awhile," she said with a faint blush.

I rolled over and looked at the clock, it said 8am. Then something occurred to me. It was Monday. I hadn't expected to stay out so late yesterday. Luckily I only work from 10-5, so I wouldn't be late even with the 40 minute drive back. However, I didn't know what Bella's schedule was like… or even what she did for that matter! Last night our conversation over dinner consisted more on our common likes and dislikes rather than playing 20 questions. For example, we both love to cook, and have both been to the Grand Canyon, we both love animals, but I have never had any, and Bella has had four bunnies, which all died tragic deaths (although when she started telling the stories all deaths were either of the circle of life, or natural causes)***. However I planned to get to know more about Bella.

"I'm sorry but I didn't even think to ask this last night, what time to you need to be back? I wasn't thinking about yesterday as a Sunday and work today..." I asked with an apologetic expression, although truth be told I was not sorry for waking up with Bella in my arms again.

"Actually, while you were still sleeping I called into my boss Angela and told her I would be coming in late." She said timidly.

"Oh, sorry you had to do that. What do you do?" I had told her I was a doctor, but she never said what she did.

"Oh, that's fine, I don't usually start till 9 anyways. I work 9-5. And well actually I technically have two jobs. One job, my main job, is that I'm a manager at a book store; the second is that I design clothes. I do this more as a hobby; my friend, well you know her, Alice, owns her own clothing store, and lets me sell some of my designs to her. I want to just give them to her to look at, but she insists on paying me for them." She said this with a fond smile.

"Well then if you don't mind being a little late, I can make us breakfast if you want." I always made sure that Leah had the vessel stocked with some sort of food, but as I remembered I had her help me stock yesterday, I remember seeing eggs and fruit in the fridge.

"Oh, breakfast sounds good."

We both got out of bed, and I went to my closet to pull out clothes to change in the bathroom. "Hey Bella, if you don't want to wear the same clothes as yesterday, I'm sure Leah wouldn't mind letting you borrow some more of hers." I said; then I realized Bella had no idea who Leah was when she replied, "Um, who is Leah, by the way?"

"Leah is one of our crew members. She is also a great family friend. Speaking of which, she is dying to meet you soon, as well as my father, and I was wondering if you would accompany me to a b-b-q, not this weekend, but the next weekend. I believe Alice is going also." I said, hoping once again she agreed to go out with me.

"Oh let me see," she went to her purse in the corner and grabbed her phone, before looking at the calendar on it. "Yep I can go, I have nothing planned that weekend." She answered with a smile. "And as for the clothes, are you sure that Leah wouldn't mind me using her clothes?" She asked timidly.

"No, I'm sure of it; she will not mind." I answered in a smile. I held my hand out for her which I was ecstatic when she took it as I lead her to Leah's area to let her pick out an outfit. She grabbed a simple white long-sleeved shirt and jeans and went into the bathroom to change as I went back to my room to change. When I was done, I went to the kitchen to start cutting up fruit to eat and making a breakfast scramble. After I was about half way done, Bella walked back and sat at counter.

"So I was thinking about playing 20 questions. You know I ask something, you ask something?" I looked at her and smiled, "I think that is a great idea," as her uncertainty turned into a happy smile. "Ladies first."

"Well thank you, what is your favorite book?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure, but I would probably say _To Kill a Mockingbird_, with Boo Radley being my favorite character. What is your favorite book?"

"Well, my favorite is _Wuthering Heights_. What is your favorite movie?"

"I don't know if I have a favorite, I love too many. A little known fact about me is that I love movies, I rarely go to the movie theatres, but I buy them on DVD/ blueray, and watch them over and over. I feel like every time I watch a movie again I see something I never saw before, no matter how many times I've seen it."

"Wow, I can only watch certain movies over and over. Generally I just rent movies or watch them on TV. And I have to agree that I don't really have a favorite movie. I really liked the Sherlock Holmes movie." She said with a thoughtful expression.

By now I had finished cooking and dished us up each a plate and sat them at the counter to eat.

"Wow, this tastes wonderful Edward, thank you." She said after she took a bite of my cooking. I couldn't help but smile. Her emotions were contagious. When she is content, so am I.

We finished eating in a peaceful silence before I grabbed the dishes and washed them, and last nights, before grabbing my keys, "ready to go? It's 8:37, and I can probably drive to Seattle by 9:20. Sound good?" She merely nodded.

We walked back up the dock and started my car, (after I had opened her door for her of course), and headed back to Seattle.

"Alright Bella I do believe it is your turn to ask another question," I said hoping to learn more about her.

"What is your favorite color?"

"Brown." I said immediately without realizing my favorite color _used to be_ green.

"Brown? Why?"

I didn't really want to answer her question, "isn't it my turn to ask what your favorite color is?"

She blushed a tad before whispering, "green." I looked at her and she was looking out the window again.

"Bella, what are you thinking?"

"Nothing," she said sounding defeated, as if she was having an internal debate and lost.

Honestly I didn't know what to say or do so I just drove in silence for a few minutes.

"Edward, is there any chance you can just drop me off at work instead of my house? That way I won't be any later? It isn't far from there."

"Sure, just point me in the direction when we get closer." I said with a smile, then I decided to try to go back to the question game, "Where would you travel if you could go anywhere in the world?"

"Um… I don't know. I think everywhere has something interesting, although I would like to go to Europe and other countries/continents, I think I would want to start exploring my own country more before I left it. I have never been to another country, well besides our 51st state, Canada, but in my opinion, everyone lives so close to the US border, it's not exactly different." She said joking at the last part. But what about you, where would you go?"

"Well, I have been to quite a few places around the world, but my favorite is Isle Esme."

"Isle Esme? As in your mother Esme?"

"Yes," I said a little hesitant. But I figured she would see exactly how well off I was soon anyways, "My father bought my mother an Island off the coast of Brazil. We built like a mini village on it. There is the 'main area,' which has a game room, kitchen, bathroom, dining room, pool, and bar; then there are 5 cabanas scattered around it. One is for the staff we bring with us, and the rest are for us. One was given to me, one to Jasper, one is my parents, and one is for whomever. But we made it like our own resort, and it looks like one two, thanks to my mom and her designing. The beach is amazing, and there is so much to do there. It's like we own paradise."

"Wow, that sounds amazing. I can't even imagine owning an island… or land… or a yacht..." she then mumbled something else, but I couldn't hear what she was saying.

I couldn't help but noticed how she started to sink down in her seat, as if belittling herself.

"Bella, please tell me what you're thinking," she looked up into my eyes, "please?"

She sighed, "why me?"

"What?"

"Why are you even wasting your time with me?"

What on earth was this beautiful girl talking about? "What do you mean, 'wasting my time with you?'"

"I mean, you could have anyone, girls way more beautiful or sexy than me, girls with simpler backgrounds, or wealth, girls who are not plain, and boring like me, who can actually offer something back. Again, why me?" She said defeated, as if she thought I would find her words as truth, and realize I wanted someone else.

At this point I pulled over for a second, because I knew I needed to have eye-contact for this conversation. I was a little nervous though on how she would react to me gushing all my emotions for her at once, so I figured to just skim the surface. "Bella, please look at me," as she was looking at her hands in her lap; she didn't look up so I put my hand on her chin to bring her eyes up to mine. She looked so sad, that it crushed me.

"Bella, you are not some plain, boring girl, and you are beautiful, exquisitely beautiful. Your smile is contagious as is your laugh, you're trusting, kind, selfless, and strong… you don't see yourself very clearly, love." As soon as the word was out of my mouth I thought about regretting it, but honestly I couldn't. And as I said it the hand that was holding her chin to have her look at me moved to her cheek, to which she leaned into, and I couldn't stop the loving, yes I said loving, smile that spread across my face, to which she returned one.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Soon after, I pulled back onto the road. Nothing was said after, and that was fine. We had the last fifteen minutes in comfortable silence, except when Bella gave directions to her office. When we got there, as she was getting her purse I ran around the car, and opened her door, helping her out. When I pulled her up, she semi-stumbled, falling into my arms once again. "Bella?" I asked as she looked directly into my eyes, "yes?" she replied in a small voice. "Can I kiss you?" She nodded slowly as her eyes wandered from my lips back up to my eyes, and as I leaned in to finally kiss Bella, a girl with black long hair and glasses opened the door of the bookstore behind us, "Hey Bella, Ben… oh, I am so sorry, I just… I'm going to go back inside." She said, clearly flustered, and sincerely apologetic as she scurried back into the store. Bella let out a frustrated sigh, as I let out a single laugh, of course I would be interrupted on my first attempt to kiss Bella.

I kissed her forehead, and whispered, "I'll call you tonight," This time she let out a content sigh, "alright. I better go and see what Angela came out here to get me for."

"Bye, Love." I said before I thought, as a hopped back in my car and drove myself to work. I called her 'love' twice in one day. I realized that it was not longer that I was 'falling in love' with Bella, I was in love with Bella. I now believed in love at first sight.

**AN: Ok, so at the beginning when they are talking about the bunnies and there are *** next to it, it's because that is something that happened to me. If you guys want me to further explain, let me know and I'll post it here in the AN. Anywho, I am going to start working more on this, but don't know when. I'm gonna put a limit like I did on this chapter and say the 26th, because I will be out of town next weekend and will not be able to post it until tues. Please remeber to review, and thank you so much for reading this! You have no idea how happy it makes me that people read my work! :D Also, I have come to the conclusion that I am going to do 'The Guy at the Bar', which will be Bella's pov of this story. I won't start/ post it till I'm done with this story though, because the info that Bella knows, can ruin this story and vice versa, but just something else to look forward to. (PS I have a feeling that Bella's story will be longer than this one, because I already have been writing it in my head, and more seems to happen to Bella.)**

**I know originally I said I would have the next chapter up by the 19th, but today is the 19th, and it's not done, nor do I have the time, because I have college finals next week, and a crap load of work to do in the next 2 days, not to mention it's father's day tomorrow! AHHHHH! Anyways, sorry for the postponing, and I promise to get it uploaded as soon as I possibly can! :(**


	6. Temp Hiatus SOOOO SORRY!

Hello… *cowers under desk*

Sorry about this, but I am taking a break. I have the plot and stuff written out, so don't worry, I promise this story will eventually be completed, but when I was writing today, I realized I made a mistake with a character's relation which will make future chapters not make sense… OOPS! So I am going to finish writing more, and see if I can figure out a way to make it work before I post it. If I can't do that, then I'm gonna pull the ENTIRE story, and revamp it and repost it… I am sooooooo sorry, but while I think of a way to fix this story, I'm going to be writing more for my other story ConMan. Again sorry, but I think for this story I should officially make it Temporary Hiatus and write the whole thing before I post… Again thank you for reading, and I really hope I get better at this fanfic author thing.

-Imwaiting4myAliceandEdward


	7. VERY short scene between ExB

**AN: Hey there! I just wanted to let you all know, I haven't forgotten this story! I have just been EXTREMELY busy! I am a full time student, and have 2 part time jobs at the moment… not a lot of time for writing…. However this is something I was/am planning on adding into a later chapter, and thought it would be a comedic situation between Edward and Bella. Don't give up on this story, I promise it will be completed eventually… even if it takes a few years ;P (I really doubt it will take a few years to write this story… I have it laid out and am fixing the kinx; it should only be about 18 chapters….) Anyways, tell me what you think, and FYI I have a new community which I put the best of everything in, and I do mean everything, so if you have suggestions of a favorite story, let me know! **

The next morning I woke up to the smell of Bella, and the first thought that ran through my mind was cold shower. Let's just say at some point while sleeping, I had a very good dream about Bella and I, and I could feel it in the form of a morning woody. I opened my eyes to see Bella lying on my chest with her head facing away. Now here was my problem, if I woke her up, the first thing she would see was a clearly defined bulge in my pajama pants. I tried thinking of anything that would help, but with Bella so close, it was impossible. Maybe if I moved really slow and did the whole pillow under the head thing so I could get up, she wouldn't wake up… honestly if this does work, I'm a magician. I started to slowly move but I froze when I felt her move. SHIT she was waking up! I knew she saw my problem when I felt her body freeze for a moment before turning her face into my chest with a smile, blush, and silent laugh. It's not that I wasn't proud of what God gave me, but this is just embarrassing for me. In about 2 seconds she would know I was awake, so I might as well try to make this a tad less awkward and take control of the situation.

"See something you like, Bella?"

Her head whipped around to face mine, eliminating her smile. I have never seen someone blush such a bright red in all my life. Her eyes widened, and her mouth kept opening like she was attempting to say something. "I….." was the only sound to make it out of her mouth.

I couldn't help but inwardly laugh at the cute, befuddled Bella before me. But this only slightly helped with my embarrassment, and sure as hell didn't help with my 'problem.' By this point Bella had stopped trying to say anything and an awkward silence fell over us. Bella was looking anywhere but me with an embarrassed smile. "Well I'm obviously in need of a shower… so coffee is probably already made if you would like some," I said as I started to get up. Bella sat up in bed watching me as I quickly grabbed some jeans and a shirt, "I'll, uh, be out in a minute," and with that I went into the bathroom to take a shower. Thus started the most embarrassing morning of my life… generally when you wake up with a beautiful girl in bed, that wouldn't be a problem, but thus is the dilemma with sleeping with a person, without actually 'sleeping' with a person. Honestly though, if I just got to hold Bella throughout the night I would gladly take any and all embarrassing moments that came with it.

**Just an awkward/cute short between ExB.**


End file.
